Griffin is the Clippers’ marked man

April 27, 2012

Updated Aug. 21, 2013 1:17 p.m.

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Lakers' power forward Pau Gasol (16) fouls Los Angeles Clippers' power forward Blake Griffin (32) in the second quarter at the Staples Center in Los Angeles. THis is a Los Angeles Clippers home game against the Los Angeles Lakers at the Staples Center. MICHAEL GOULDING, THE ORANGE COUNTY REGISTER

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The Clippers' Blake Griffin is double-teamed by the Lakers' Matt Barnes, left, and Pau Gasol as he tries to score. ROSE PALMISANO, THE ORANGE COUNTY REGISTER

Lakers' power forward Pau Gasol (16) fouls Los Angeles Clippers' power forward Blake Griffin (32) in the second quarter at the Staples Center in Los Angeles. THis is a Los Angeles Clippers home game against the Los Angeles Lakers at the Staples Center.MICHAEL GOULDING, THE ORANGE COUNTY REGISTER

Like most 23-year-olds, Blake Griffin has likely never heard of Gerry Cheevers or George Chuvalo.

But the Clippers' high-flying All-Star power forward has much in common with the old Boston Bruins goalie and the Canadian heavyweight boxer of the same era.

Cheevers, who played in the NHL and WHA from 1961-80, had a stitch mark painted on his white goalie mask wherever he was struck by a puck. By the time he left, the mask was all stitches.

It was like Ohio State, and all those buckeyes on one side of an All-American linebacker's helmet.

If Griffin, who endures more face-slaps, chops and eye-pokes than the original Three Stooges, emulated Cheevers, and had Chris "The Birdman" Andersen's penchant for tattoos, the Lob City lad's freckled face would resemble actor Rod Steiger's body in 1969's "The Illustrated Man," a film based on a 1951 Ray Bradbury book.

Chuvalo, who fought from 1956-79, had the greatest chin in the fight game, and proved it in 93 professional bouts. He was knocked down twice, both by Oscar Bonavena. Chuvalo was "the toughest guy I ever fought," in the words of Muhammed Ali, after their 1966 bout.

Like Chuvalo, Griffin takes a licking and keeps on ticking, helping the Clippers make the playoffs for the first time since 2006. Chris Paul might be the Clippers' MVP candidate, but Griffin is their Most Punished Player.

He's taken much, from the infamous cross-body block by New Orleans' Jason Smith, to the attempted decapitation by Phoenix's Robin Lopez last week.

"I feel like people are intentionally trying to hurt him," teammate DeAndre Jordan told The Register's Dan Woike last week.

Almost every Clippers telecast, with head-shaking regularity, color analyst Mike Smith, a former Celtic and Clipper, marvels at how often Griffin is struck in the face.

Here's a player who needs serious counsel from NBA all-time scoring leader and six-time MVP Kareem Abdul-Jabbar. Yes, Griffin should consider wearing protective goggles for the rest of his career.

"I'm definitely sick of taking hard hits," Griffin said after a recent shoot-around. "There's a point, I can't remember what game it was, in my mind where I thought this is kind of ridiculous. I'm sick of it, but it's going to keep on happening."

After the Lopez incident, which drew a Flagrant-2 ejection for the Suns center, Griffin pretty much shrugged it off, at least off the court. But he had 12 technical fouls this season, many coming in protest of, or in retaliation for, an opponent going all-Moe on his Curly.

Griffin has got in his licks, too. His most famous dunks, over Denver's Timofev Mozgov, Oklahoma City's Kendrick Perkins and the Lakers' Pau Gasol, included much physical contact initiated by Griffin when those stubborn big men refused to yield their ground (although Gasol turned away at the last instant, and the Lakers got an after-the-fact Flagrant-1 charged to Griffin for an elbow to the Spaniard's chops).

When Griffin came into the NBA from Oklahoma, the fear here was that his relentless aerial act would result in him being low-bridged, putting his legs, back, arms and head at risk to falls from great height.

But he's getting hammered much more on the way up, with many of the blows to the head.

There is the argument that if Griffin shot free throws better than a 54.9-percent clip, he wouldn't get fouled as much. He's even speculated that himself. This does not explain, however, why he gets fouled so darn hard.

For the sake of a bright career that's just getting started, the hope here is that the rest of the league lightens up, just a little. Griffin's going to dunk, he's not backing down.

Does anyone recall Dominique Wilkins, who dunked on everybody at a time when the NBA was regarded as more physical, getting mauled like this? No, "The Human Highlight Film" was never the league's punching bag.

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